Perhaps the most unserious response to the coronavirus pandemic has been the facile assertion that lockdowns, the destruction of the economy, and the suppression of our historic freedoms are all justified if they “save just one life.” As Joe Biden put it on Twitter, “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: No one is expendable. No life is worth losing to add one more point to the Dow.”
While every person is unique and has an immortal soul, we do not do anything and everything to save lives from all hazards, nor should we. Adults know that there are no easy solutions to most problems, and real life consists of tradeoffs.
No One Really Believes “Just One Life” Nonsense
First, we do not save every life because doing so, however noble our intentions, would be incredibly destructive. Protecting life—in other words, paying for safety—takes away from resources that make life worth living. Does everyone in the “just one life” chorus drive a Volvo? And, for that matter, do those who do also wear a crash helmet while driving or riding in this car? Of course not. Most drive a less safe car so they can afford to go on vacation or get a haircut or buy a new iPhone.
Doing everything possible to save “just one life” would bring life to a halt. Driving a car, for example, is always risky. But we still drive. Similarly, all human interaction has some small chance of spreading a fatal disease, but we still value time with friends and family. Before coronavirus, there was the flu. It kills tens of thousands of Americans every year, especially in vulnerable populations. But no one seriously contemplated a national shutdown to counter that yearly tragedy.
Second, trying to save lives from particular threats may increase the risks from others. Not every investment in safety has the same return, and a range of risks must be balanced. Even accepting the dubious moral premise that saving “just one life” is always worth any expense, doing so might use up resources that could be more effectively deployed against other risks.
[Interesting Read]
See Also:
(1) Any Price to Save the Institutions?
(2) Mr. President, Here’s How You Stop the Democratic Scam of the Century
(3) Trumps Says Country Will Not Shut Down for Second Virus Wave
(4) CDC: Coronavirus ‘does not spread easily’ except for close contact with infected patients
(5) The lockdown ‘cure’ is now worse than the Covid ‘disease’
The government no longer serves the people. We were duped into giving them more power that they could never have imagined. Now they will not give it back. Today the Manitoba government is running an ad telling the masses that ‘Manitobans have nothin to be happy about’. 1.4M people in the province, 14 active coronavirus cases. Nothing to be happy about? FU. The ICU’s are empty of coronavirus patients. Nothing to be happy about? FU. No coronavirus patients in the ER’s which are like desert ghost towns. Nothing to be happy about? FU. The government doesn’t lead, it rules. It is the master of the populace. The Public Service is no more, it is the Government Service. I am getting more disgusted with my fellow Canadians with each passing day. JHC just over the past week I saw a fella wearing a WWI gas mask with big canister sticking out the side. He looked like Darth Vader. Another dressed like a fricking beekeeper! God help our country. Over the past couple of months or so I have heard Canadians cursing President Trump yet personally not heard a single one utter a disparaging word about PM Trudeau.
I for one am sick to death of so-called health experts who have proven to have an accuracy success rate of our next to useless weather forecasters. But if our weather forecasters can be wrong 75% of the f’ing time and not get fired why should our health care professionals worry. And they don’t? Fair is fair. Imagine, (it’s not difficult) If the political leadership 75 yrs ago have been made up this lot. Same goes for our military leaders had they been made up of today’s so-called health experts. If they were We’d either still be fighting the war today, or have long ago surrendered and speaking German.
You want to know leadership in times of peril, as we are told au nauseum is the case today? On D Day General Dwight D. Eisenhower dispatched 156,000 troops across a stormy channel to assault Fortress Europe. The risk was great. So great that many may not know that Eisenhower prepared two completely different announcements he would give to the world later the day. One was to declare the landing a success, the other to declare defeat. But he was leader. Willing to take a risk for the betterment of the future, unlike today’s terrified politicians. Eisenhower had both leadership AND courage in the face of a threat much more dangerous than we now know for certain posed by this coronavirus. Canadian sheeple.
I happened to just come across a satellite video of Canada from outer space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDQw21ntR64